1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope which has a bending portion at a distal end side of an insertion portion and in which a bending operation of the bending portion is performed by a bending operation member provided on an operation portion on a hand side.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, endoscopes have been widely used in a medical field and an industrial field. In some endoscopes, an elongated insertion portion is flexible, and, generally, a bending portion which can be freely bending-operated in a predetermined direction according to a user's operation at hand is provided on a distal end side of the insertion portion.
In such an endoscope having the insertion portion which is provided with the bending portion, it is possible to, by causing the bending portion to bend, change an observation direction of an observation optical system provided at a distal end portion located on the more distal end side of the insertion portion than the bending portion so that examination for a wide range can be performed.
Conventional endoscopes are configured such that a bending operation of the bending portion is performed on a hand side by the operation member of a lever type, a joystick type or the like which is provided on the operation portion, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. S62-38411 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-89955.